


Where Carthage Once Stood

by Vaznetti



Category: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Epistolary, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 23:17:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4324611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaznetti/pseuds/Vaznetti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 147 BCE, Scipio Aemilianus took the young Tiberius Gracchus on campaign against Carthage; Tiberius writes home to his mother and brother, and they write back, about war and history and duty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Carthage Once Stood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mercurie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercurie/gifts).



1a.  
To his mother, from her Tiberius. If you and Gaius and Sempronia are well, then I am well. Does Sempronia enjoy living in her new house? I suppose all those cabinets of funeral masks must be overwhelming, but you have no doubt reminded her that they are her ancestors as much as Aemilianus’. She has probably had letters from Aemilianus, and so you are both aware of how the siege is progressing, but I will tell you anyway. We are camped outside the Carthage, and Aemilianus is in as great a hurry to capture the city as he was to be elected consul! Everyone in the camp rushes here and there like ants all day long. He has set the men to building a wall around the city wall at the isthmus here, from which we can attack the city and keep our siege engines safe, because the Carthaginians keep sending raiding parties out of the city by night to destroy them. We have also built a mole across the harbour to block them from access to the sea – without much success! The Carthaginians worked day and night to dig a new passage from the harbour to the sea, behind their outer wall where we could not see what they were doing. A few deserters have come to us, and they say that even the women and children of Carthage worked at it, digging all day and night. They actually sailed their fleet out against us, and might have done us a great deal of damage if they had tried, Aemilianus said – but in the end we defeated them. Now in addition to the building work he has set the men to military exercises to keep them busy; he tells me that we are certain to take the city, provided the army is not overcome by boredom! So he keeps them busy building things, and waits for the summer to come to an end so that we can go on campaign.

Aemilianus treats me very well, and keeps me at his side through all his meetings and discussions, and at night in the tent he often asks me for my opinion about whatever I have seen that day. He is extremely anxious to be thought worthy to be Africanus’ grandson, he says; for his sake I am to ask you if you have any memory of Africanus to pass on to him. Other than that, I spend my time like all the rest of the officers. When not overseeing the soldiers (which their own centurions do better than we), we spend our time exercising our horses. We do not ride so well as our Numidian allies, who speed all over the plain and throw their javelins with remarkable accuracy. One of their new kings, Gulussa, singled me out while watching the display, and honoured me as your son and your father’s grandson. He gave me a set of Numidian javelins, and would have given me a horse too – he says that no one mounted on a Roman horse will ever use a Numidian spear well – but it would not have suited Aemilianus to see me riding up and down the ranks without a saddle like one of our African allies. And I suppose it would not have suited my dignity either. So I am sending the spears home to Gaius, for him to play with. Perhaps by taking them in hand at an earlier age than I, he will be able to use these weapons with more success.

I imagine that you are all at Misenum, enjoying the sea – I think of you whenever look out over the water here, and hope that you think of me too. Please kiss Gaius for me, and Sempronia if she is there, and kisses to you as well. Written 5 days before the Kalends of Sextilis, 607 AUC in camp outside Carthage.

1b.  
To his brother Gracchus, from his brother Gaius. If you are well then I am also well. Mother says that I should not write “if you and the army are well” because that is only for generals. Thank you for the javelins! They are amazing! They are too long for me to throw when I am standing, but the next time you see me I will be much taller and will be able to his the target every time. And because they are made to use from horseback Mother has agreed to let me have a pony of my own! I could barely even hold the javelins from horseback, even with Eumenes holding the reins for me, and when I tried to throw one I lost my balance and nearly fell off. I thought that Mother was going to make them take the pony away and wait until I am older but I was very brave and did not cry at all, so she relented.  
Written in my own hand, 10 days before the Kalends of September.

1c.  
To her Tiberius, from his mother. If you are well, then we are all well. We all think of you often – Gaius spends hours out on the roof looking out to see for a ship which might be bearing news from Carthage, and when his tutors drag him inside he paces up and down by the window while her recites his Homer. Sempronia has come to stay with us at Misenum as well, and I am sending these letters back with Aemilianus’ courier, his freedman Lycurgus.

I cannot imagine what kind of story Aemilianus would like from me, as I was not even born when my father triumphed over Carthage, and saw my uncle’s triumph over Antiochus as an infant. And he has Gaius Laelius there with him, whose father was my father’s constant companion and was consul with my uncle! Will my memories of my father taking me for walks along the coast at Liternum by any use to him now? But since Aemilianus asks, here is one story. You will both know how famous my father was for his kindness and clemency toward his enemies – he used to say that he would rather turn one into an ally than have a triumph over him. So even Rome’s enemies held him in great respect, and their embassies would stop at our villa even when he was in retirement to pay their respects. And not only their embassies! When I was a girl, the Ligurians we were fighting against would sometimes raid all the way down the coast, and once or twice as far as Campania. I remember that their ships were sighted not far from the shore, and all the villas prepared for an attack: our courtyard was full of sheep and goats and all the farmhands were armed with slings and spears and posted along the roof as if we were defending a city under siege. I was supposed to be in the atrium with my mother and sister and the other women, but I had climbed up as well, and could see the smoke rising from Plancus’ farm, just to the north of us. I remember being frightened, because their family had three daughters that my sister and I used to play with. (It turned out that they were all safe, and the smoke came from Plancus’ olive groves, which the Ligurians had set on fire.) Then they came over the rise along the beach, with Plancus’ sheep running before them, the men shouting and waving swords and spears and torches – I was sure we would all burn, and clutched my father’s hand as tightly as I could. But as they approached the house they suddenly stopped and fell silent, and then whispered among themselves for a moment. Our men wanted to start hurling stones at them, but my father made them wait. Then one of the Ligurians stepped forward, and addressed my father by name, speaking in Latin. He said that they were ashamed and sorry to have attacked the great Scipio Africanus, or indeed any of his neighbors, and they begged him to forgive them, and to allow them to sacrifice to his household gods and to him. The rest of the Ligurians placed their swords and spears on the ground, and cut an altar of earth from our meadow, and sacrificed two of Plancus’ sheep on it. My father took two men down with him, to share in the sacrifice, but I did not see the rest because my mother came and took me back to the atrium. A few hours later my father told us to open the doors again, and we went out to discover the Ligurians gone, and Plancus’ livestock wandering everywhere, and a great pile of bronze and silver plates and jugs which the Ligurians had taken as booty from other villas along the coast, and left for us. People came to our house for weeks to hear the story and to see if their property had been left there.

Since you have mentioned Gulussa, I wonder if he remembers his father Massinissa’s visit to us – you might think that a king would find a visit to our simple country house a trial, but in fact I remember that he and my father set up a tent in the field below the house and spent the night there trading stories. Two old men sleeping on cots and pretending to be still on campaign! Massinissa promised to take him on a lion-hunt if he ever went back to Numidia – you and Aemilianus might ask his sons to fulfill that promise to you, Africanus’ grandsons, if the war comes to a successful end, as I and every Roman pray. Or perhaps you will leave the lions until Gaius learns how to use the javelins you have sent – as you can see from his letter he is already practicing with them. He misses you greatly, as do we all.

Written 9 days before the Kalends of Spetember, at Misenum.

 

2a.  
To his mother, from her Tiberius. I do not know when I will get a chance to send this back to you – we are camped near Nepheris, which is where the bulk of Hasdrubal’s army is based; they have been harassing us, and we them, but Aemilianus thinks that we will face them soon in a real battle. He is, as usual, confident of victory.

Once we have fortified the camp each night, there is not much for those of us not overseeing guard duty to do, so we spend our time in talk, often about your father and his campaign here, and the other generals who fought against Carthage. Polybius sometimes takes the lead – you remember him, the Greek nobleman who is writing a vast history of Rome and Greece and everything else -- and sometimes Laelius talks about Rome, his experiences in political life. Last night they had a debate about the source of Rome’s power; Polybius claimed that it lies in the excellence of our leaders, and especially in the combined wisdom of the Senate working as a whole, but Laelius said that the real strength of Rome lies in the people, and especially in the soldiers, and that the chief duty of all Roman leaders is to ensure their welfare. This is the difference between Rome and Carthage, he said, because the power of Carthage has always been based on the sea, and that of Rome on the land, and if Rome is to maintain her power then it is our responsiblity to safeguard the land and those who live upon it. I wanted to ask what could possibly threaten Rome’s power, now that Carthage is about to fall, but Laelius had warmed to his theme, which was the hard lives of the Roman and Italian peasants, and the difficulty of raising legions to defend our city. So then I did point out that there had been no trouble finding men to serve in Africa, and that perhaps the real difference lay in the quality of the threat Rome faced. And Aemilianus said, “Is that what the son of Tiberius Gracchus thinks?” which brought the conversation to an end. But it is true, as I have been thinking, that although Aemilianus makes great demands on the soldiers, they serve him happily and believe that he, and he alone, can bring us victory here in Carthage. And it is they, and the men of Rome of whom Laelius spoke, who elected him to this early consulship and gave him this command, even though the Senate objected and said that it was illegal. 

I wish that I could write to my father, and ask him where he thought the chief duty of a Roman leader lies, but I will ask you instead, for surely you and he discussed such matters, and you can add his wisdom to your own. Please kiss Gaius and Sempronia for me, and kisses to you as well. Written 3 days before the Ides of March, near Nepheris.

2b.  
To her son Tiberius, from his mother Cornelia, daughter of Africanus. If you are well, than I am well. I was pleased to hear how well you did in the battle at Nepheris – both Aemilianus and Laelius sent me letters praising your courage – although I would have expected nothing less of you.

Some people might say that it is not right to ask a woman where the virtue and strength of a Roman leader should be found – and since Diophanes is here with me in Misenum, perhaps I should leave discussion of moral excellence to the Greeks as well. But those people might well have been surprised to see so many Roman women out in the forum two summers ago, when Aemilianus ran for aedile and was elected consul, supporting him by their presence – and not just his sisters by birth, but also me and your sister, and many other women, who all judged him to be a worthy successor to his ancestors. Is it not all too often, if you think of our history, that the women of Rome have told the men where there duty lies, ever since Romulus’ wife led the Sabine women out of the city to stop their husbands and fathers from destroying each other?

As to the source of Rome’s strength, I would not agree with either Polybius or Laelius; I would say that Rome is great because the city is made up of great and noble families, in which men and women both strive to match or surpass the examples set by their own ancestors. You can see this in Aemilianus himself, who wishes to outdo my father Africanus by not only conquering but destroying Carthage – and if I have done my duty to you, in your own desire to match your father’s deeds. And indeed the whole city desires this, and the men who elected Aemilianus as consul were the sons and grandsons of the men who followed my father to the Capitol to sacrifice when he triumphed, and defended him when he was attacked by the tribunes. Our house in Rome is quiet now, but when you are older, those same people will come to attend you there, since they will see you too are worthy of your father and grandfather. And where else do we learn how to act, and what is right and what is wrong, than in the home, by watching our mothers and fathers? If we do not learn justice and fairness from them, we will never understand the teaching of philosophers. We learn first to love our families, and then to transfer that love, and the duties it brings, to the city. 

The letters I have received tell me that Aemilianus plans to assault the city as soon as he can, now that the largest part of the Carthaginian army has been defeated. I am sure that you will play your part in that battle as well as you have in the one at Nepheris.

Written at Misenum, 6 days before the ides of May.

2c.  
To his mother Cornelia, from her son Tiberius. If you are well, then I am well. I received your letter before we attacked the city of Carthage, but have only now had the leisure to write a reply. Aemilianus says that he will send it with the courier to the senate, so I hope it will reach you quickly and safely. I write in haste, because the ship is nearly ready. He has decorated it with spoils from the city.

We fought for six days outside the citadel, house by house and street by street, scrambling along the roofs and then down through each building to the ground, killing as we went. Carthage was once a great city, with taller buildings and broader streets than our own Rome, but now the rubble lies in heaps over the bodies of the men and women who once lived in it. I do not think that anyone who saw the last days of Carthage would claim that women do not know as well as men what the honour of their city demands, for they fought us too, died for it. I was with Aemilianus at the end, when the Temple of Aesculapius on the citadel was burned by the last defenders of the city, who had taken refuge within it. You will read in the official letter that Hasdrubal was captured and is being transported to Rome; in fact he deserted at the end, leaving his wife and two small sons in the temple. She came out, with her children, to curse him. Her robes were embroidered with gold and silver, I remember, and she was wearing gold around her neck and arms. It reflected the fire as if she were already burning. And while we watched she killed the boys and threw them into the fire, and then walked into it herself. We waited for the fires to die down, and then the whole of the city was ours. The men are still looting; I can hear them.

Everyone says that Aemilianus should be called Africanus now, so I will have to find some famous work, so that you can be known as my mother rather than the daughter of Africanus. You will find that he has mentioned me in his letter – it is true, Fannius and I were the first over the wall at Cothon – and I assure you that I came through the fighting unharmed. 

Please kiss Gaius for me.

Written where Carthage once stood, the nones of May.

 

Historical notes:  
In 147 BCE, Scipio Aemilianus was elected to the consulship despite the fact that he was too young to hold the office, and was actually running for the aedileship (a junior office). He was given the command at Carthage; Tiberius Gracchus, then about 17, went with him as one of his junior officers and his _contubernalis_ (tentmate). Scipio had recently married Tiberius’ sister (his first cousin by adoption). Also at Carthage were the Greek historian Polybius, and Laelius, one of Aemilianus’ closest friends; at some point in his career Laelius proposed a land reform bill perhaps similar to the one later passed by Tiberius Gracchus, but he withdrew the proposal when the Senate voted against it. Also present, as allies of Rome, was a Numidian army led by Gulussa, one of the three heirs of the old king Massinissa; Massinissa had been made king at the end of the Second Punic War by Scipio Africanus, and at his death in 149 BCE, he made Aemilianus the executor of his will. In Carthage Scipio tightened the siege around the city in the summer of 147; in the winter he campaigned against the Carthaginian army in the field, and in the spring of 146 the Roman army attacked successfully. Details of the campaign come from Appian and Polybius. The story about Africanus and the pirates is found in Valerius Maximus.


End file.
